IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v29y2001i4p326-342.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Implicit Finance in Gambling Expenditures: Australian Evidence on Socioeconomic and Demographic Tax Incidence

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew C. Worthington

    (Queensland University of Technology, a.worthington@qut.edu.au)

Abstract

This article examines two issues. First, it evaluates the statistical significance of a number of socioeconomic and demographic variables on the level of gambling-type expenditures in New South Wales, Australia. Factors analyzed include household income, family composition, welfare status, gender, age, occupation, and ethnicity. Second, the study examines the incidence of gambling-type expenditures, and hence taxation, on New South Wales’ households. The study confirms similar findings overseas on the income regressivity of gambling expenditures. All other things being equal, Lotto and Instant Lotto are the most regressive of the major gambling products in their incidence on Australian households, and they are certainly more regressive than comparable North American instruments.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew C. Worthington, 2001. "Implicit Finance in Gambling Expenditures: Australian Evidence on Socioeconomic and Demographic Tax Incidence," Public Finance Review, , vol. 29(4), pages 326-342, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:29:y:2001:i:4:p:326-342
    DOI: 10.1177/109114210102900403
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/109114210102900403
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/109114210102900403?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William M. Rodgers & Charles Stuart, 1995. "The Efficiency of a Lottery as a Source of Public Revenue," Public Finance Review, , vol. 23(2), pages 242-254, April.
    2. Scott, Frank & Garen, John, 1994. "Probability of purchase, amount of purchase, and the demographic incidence of the lottery tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 121-143, May.
    3. Thiel, Stuart E., 1991. "Policy, Participation and Revenue in Washington State Lotto," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 44(2), pages 225-35, June.
    4. Borg, Mary O. & Mason, Paul M., 1988. "The Budgetary Incidence of a Lottery to Support Education," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 41(1), pages 75-85, March.
    5. Cook, Philip J & Clotfelter, Charles T, 1993. "The Peculiar Scale Economies of Lotto," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 634-643, June.
    6. Scoggins, John F., 1995. "The Lotto and Expected Net Revenue," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 48(1), pages 61-70, March.
    7. Cooper, Samuel & Cohn, Elchanan, 1994. "Equity and Efficiency of State Lotteries," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 355-362.
    8. Mary O. Borg & Paul M. Mason & Stephen I. Shapiro, 1991. "The Incidence of Taxes on Casino Gambling: Exploiting the Tired and Poor," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 323-333, July.
    9. Scoggins, John F., 1995. "The Lotto and Expected Net Revenue," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 48(1), pages 61-70, March.
    10. Borg, Mary O. & Mason, Paul M., 1988. "The Budgetary Incidence of a Lottery to Support Education," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 41(1), pages 75-85, March.
    11. Madhusudhan, Ranjana G., 1996. "Betting on Casino Revenues: Lessons From State Experiences," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 49(3), pages 401-412, September.
    12. Clotfelter, Charles T & Cook, Philip J, 1991. "Lotteries in the Real World," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 227-232, July.
    13. Scott, Frank A, Jr & Gulley, O David, 1995. "Testing for Efficiency in Lotto Markets," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 33(2), pages 175-188, April.
    14. Charles T. Clotfelter & Philip J. Cook, 1987. "Implicit Taxation in Lottery Finance," NBER Working Papers 2246, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Mary O. Borg & Paul M. Mason & Stephen L. Shapiro, 1993. "The Cross Effects of Lottery Taxes On Alternative State Tax Revenue," Public Finance Review, , vol. 21(2), pages 123-140, April.
    16. Jon David Vasche, 1990. "The net revenue effect of California's lottery," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(4), pages 561-564.
    17. Thiel, Stuart E., 1991. "Policy, Participation and Revenue in Washington State Lotto," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 44(2), pages 225-235, June.
    18. Madhusudhan, Ranjana G., 1996. "Betting on Casino Revenues: Lessons From State Experiences," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 49(3), pages 401-12, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Weinbach & R. Paul, 2010. "Transfer payment distribution and increases in gambling activity," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 165-167, January.
    2. David Giacopassi & Mark W. Nichols & B. Grant Stitt, 2006. "Voting for a Lottery," Public Finance Review, , vol. 34(1), pages 80-100, January.
    3. Tim Friehe & Mario Mechtel, 2017. "Gambling to leapfrog in status?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1291-1319, December.
    4. Levi Pérez & Brad R. Humphreys, 2011. "The Income Elasticity of Lottery: New Evidence from Micro Data," Public Finance Review, , vol. 39(4), pages 551-570, July.
    5. John Eakins, 2016. "Household gambling expenditures and the Irish recession," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 211-230, August.
    6. Giuliano Resce & Raffaele Lagravinese & Elisa Benedetti & Sabrina Molinaro, 2019. "Income-related inequality in gambling: evidence from Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1107-1131, December.
    7. Melissa S. Kearney, 2005. "The Economic Winners and Losers of Legalized Gambling," NBER Working Papers 11234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Kearney, Melissa Schettini, 2005. "State lotteries and consumer behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2269-2299, December.
    9. Andrew Worthington & Kerry Brown & Mary Crawford & David Pickernell, 2007. "Gambling participation in Australia: findings from the national Household Expenditure Survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 209-221, June.
    10. Andrew C. Worthington & Kerry Brown & Mary Crawford & David Pickernell, 2003. "Socioeconomic And Demographic Determinants Of Household Gambling In Australia," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 156, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    11. Dimitri Kohler, 2016. "On the Regressivity of Gambling Taxes in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 152(III), pages 193-208, September.
    12. Humphreys, Brad & Perez, Levi, 2011. "Lottery Participants and Revenues: An International Survey of Economic Research on Lotteries," Working Papers 2011-17, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    13. Cecilia Nwigwe & S.A. Yusuf & V.O. Okoruwa, 2012. "Determinants of Demand for Gambling/Office Football Pool Betting in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria," Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, University of Buckingham Press, vol. 6(2), pages 69-81, August.
    14. Thomas Gall, 2008. "Lotteries, inequality, and market imperfection: Galor and Zeira go gambling," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 34(2), pages 359-382, February.
    15. Humphreys, Brad R. & Perez, Levi, 2013. "Syndicated play in lottery games," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 124-131.
    16. Humphreys, Brad R. & Perez, Levi, 2012. "Who Bets on Sports? Characteristics of Sports Bettors and the Consequences of Expanding Sports Betting Opportunities/¿Quién apuesta? Características de los apostantes deportivos y consecuencias de la ," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 579-598, Agosto.
    17. James Rude & Yves Surry & Robert Kron, 2014. "A generalized double-hurdle model of Swedish gambling expenditures," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(34), pages 4151-4163, December.
    18. Humphreys, Brad R. & Soebbing, Brian, 2012. "Sports betting, sports bettors and sports gambling policy," Edition HWWI: Chapters, in: Büch, Martin-Peter & Maennig, Wolfgang & Schulke, Hans-Jürgen (ed.), Sport und Sportgroßveranstaltungen in Europa - zwischen Zentralstaat und Regionen, volume 4, pages 15-37, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    19. Brad Humphreys & Levi Perez, 2012. "Network externalities in consumer spending on lottery games: evidence from Spain," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 929-945, June.
    20. Dimitri Kohler, 2016. "On the Regressivity of Gambling Taxes in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 152(3), pages 193-208, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew C. Worthington & Kerry Brown & Mary Crawford & David Pickernell, 2003. "Socioeconomic And Demographic Determinants Of Household Gambling In Australia," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 156, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    2. Andrew Worthington & Kerry Brown & Mary Crawford & David Pickernell, 2007. "Gambling participation in Australia: findings from the national Household Expenditure Survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 209-221, June.
    3. Kent Grote & Victor Matheson, 2011. "The Economics of Lotteries: A Survey of the Literature," Working Papers 1109, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    4. Kent Grote & Victor Matheson, 2011. "The Economics of Lotteries: An Annotated Bibliography," Working Papers 1110, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    5. Humphreys, Brad & Perez, Levi, 2011. "Lottery Participants and Revenues: An International Survey of Economic Research on Lotteries," Working Papers 2011-17, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    6. Thomas A. Garrett & Russell S. Sobel, 2004. "State Lottery Revenue: The Importance of Game Characteristics," Public Finance Review, , vol. 32(3), pages 313-330, May.
    7. David Giacopassi & Mark W. Nichols & B. Grant Stitt, 2006. "Voting for a Lottery," Public Finance Review, , vol. 34(1), pages 80-100, January.
    8. Thomas Garrett, 2001. "An International Comparison and Analysis of Lotteries and the Distribution of Lottery Expenditures," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 213-227.
    9. Garrett, Thomas A. & Marsh, Thomas L., 2002. "The revenue impacts of cross-border lottery shopping in the presence of spatial autocorrelation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 501-519, July.
    10. Julie Smith, 1999. "Australian Gambling Taxation," CEPR Discussion Papers 402, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    11. Gabrielyan, Gnel & Just, David R., 2017. "Economic Factors Affecting Lottery Sales: An Examination of Maine State Lottery Sales," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258419, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Walther Herbert, 2005. "Optimal Taxation of Gambling and Lotto," Working Papers geewp47, Vienna University of Economics and Business Research Group: Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness.
    13. Giebeler, Constanze & Rebeggiani, Luca, 2019. "Who Loves to Gamble? Socio-Economic Factors Determining Gambling Behaviour in Germany," MPRA Paper 94735, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Harriet A. Stranahan & Mary O. Borg, 1998. "Separating the Decisions of Lottery Expenditures and Participation: a Truncated Tobit Approach," Public Finance Review, , vol. 26(2), pages 99-117, March.
    15. Farrell, Lisa & Walker, Ian, 1999. "The welfare effects of lotto: evidence from the UK," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 99-120, April.
    16. Garrett, Thomas A. & Coughlin, Cletus C., 2009. "Inter–Temporal Differences in the Income Elasticity of Demand for Lottery Tickets," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(1), pages 77-99, March.
    17. Ethan Grumstrup & Mark W. Nichols, 2021. "Is video gambling terminal placement and spending in Illinois correlated with neighborhood characteristics?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 67(2), pages 273-298, October.
    18. Thomas A. Garrett & Natalia A. Kolesnikova, 2010. "Local price variation and the tax incidence of state lotteries," Working Papers 2010-035, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    19. Kent R. Grote & Victor A. Matheson, 2006. "In Search of a Fair Bet in the Lottery," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 673-684, Fall.
    20. Kent Grote & Victor Matheson, 2006. "Dueling Jackpots: Are Competing Lotto Games Complements or Substitutes?," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 34(1), pages 85-100, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:29:y:2001:i:4:p:326-342. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.